Cold radio receivers fitted to SKA

Related Links

Johannesburg - Cold radio receivers have been fitted to seven satellite dishes in the Karoo Astronomy Reserve, the Square Kilometre Array SA team said on Wednesday.

The dishes test technology to be used in the MeerKAT project, which is under construction in the Northern Cape.

"The installation of the receivers would allow the KAT-7 telescope to see much fainter objects than it would if the receivers and 'feeds' operated at room temperature and were not cooled," MeerKAT project manager Willem Esterhuyse said in a statement.

The receivers were cooled to -203°C, which eliminated much of the "noise" interference associated with radio receivers, he said.

This greater sensitivity reduced observation time, improving the quality of images.

SKA is an international radio telescope project for astronomy observation that will either be built in South Africa or Australia.

When completed in 2024, SKA will be 50 times more sensitive than any other radio instrument.

The decision on whether it will be built in South Africa is expected in 2012.

24.com publishes all comments posted on articles provided that they adhere to our Comments Policy. Should you wish to report a comment for editorial review, please do so by clicking the 'Report Comment' button to the right of each comment.

Tell us a bit about yourself:

Saving your profile

Settings

News24 allows you to edit the display of certain components based on a location.
If you wish to personalise the page based on your preferences, please select a
location for each component and click "Submit" in order for the changes to
take affect.

Your Location*

Weather*

Always remember my setting

Saving your settings

Facebook Sign-In

Hi News addict,

Join the News24 Community to be involved in breaking the news.

Log in with Facebook to comment and personalise news, weather and listings.